Brunel’s Education department has been graded ‘outstanding’ by Government inspectors in every aspect of its training of teachers to work in primary and secondary schools, in partnership with a wide range of local schools.
The result, for both inspections, primary and secondary, by Ofsted (Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills) for the award of Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) was a grade 1 in all possible fields.
The student teachers assessed in the department’s 2015 Ofsted inspection report, published this week, chose the training route of the Postgraduate Certificate of Education through Brunel’s Initial Teacher Education Partnership.
The partnership involves almost 300 schools in Hillingdon and in the west of greater London, including those considered by the inspectors as having “challenging circumstances.”
Welcoming the report, Head of Department, Professor Viv Ellis, commented: “Receiving an Outstanding judgement from Ofsted for all aspects of both primary and secondary teacher education provision at Brunel is fantastic news and very rare in the sector.”
The Ofsted inspectors stated that the partnership between Brunel University London and the schools was “exceptionally strong because all involved are working collaboratively to improve pupil and student outcomes.”
Professor Ellis added: “Ofsted observed that not only do we work in close partnership with local schools and incorporate best practice from them, but the Brunel Post-Graduate Certificate of Education students also make a positive difference to the quality of teaching in our partner schools, particularly those that are judged to be in challenging circumstances.”
The reception to celebrate the double Outstanding success was attended by the Deputy Mayor of Hillingdon, Councillor John Hensley; Andrew Griffin, Head Teacher Vaughan First and Middle School, Harrow; Janice Howkins, Head Teacher, Bentleywood High School for Girls, Harrow; Paul Hazell, Deputy Head Teacher, Rabbsfarm Primary School, Hillingdon; Cathy Gower, Director of Initial Teacher Education, Brunel; the entire teaching staff on the course, students, and Professor Zahir Irani, Dean of the College of Business, Arts and Social Sciences at Brunel.